Elk Grove Family Mourns Loss Of 19-Year-Old Gunned Down At Record Store
ELK GROVE (CBS13) - A family is in mourning after a young father was gunned down outside of a record store in Elk Grove.
Faced with the reality her 2-month-old grandson Chase will never know his father, Jennifer Oropesa couldn't help but be overwhelmed.
"It's really senseless," she said Monday, a day after her son Joseph was shot to death. "He's only 19."
A close-knit elk grove family, the Oropesa's are holding each other even tighter now, trying to cope with what still doesn't seem quite real.
Jennifer got a call from the sheriff's department saying he was the victim of a homicide. Joseph, Jennifer's second son, the one she described as having more energy than anyone she ever knew was gone, had been gunned down outside the Elk Grove Dimple record store just hours after having lunch with his family.
"I don't know why he was there, really. I didn't know he was going there," she said.
Joseph had some troubles in the past, but his family said he'd made big changes for his little boy.
They have no idea why anyone would want to hurt Joseph. But the family knows someone out there has the answers.
"I'm just hoping someone will come forward," said Joseph's father as he held his young grandson Monday. "Whoever did this, you took his father away. Please, you not only took his father, you took my son. Please turn yourself in."
The vehicle Joseph was driving that the suspect took off in is a black 1992 Ford Explorer with California license plate 3BBF649. The suspect is described as 25- to 30-year-old man with shoulder-length hair in a pea coat.
